Post Office seeks to delivery 1945 letter

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) — In 1945, a letter was addressed to a western Michigan couple and mailed from a sergeant at an Army base in New York State.

It apparently never reached “Mr. and Mrs. Sensabaugh” on Washington Avenue in Muskegon and — nearly 70 years later — postal officials are hoping to find relatives to deliver the letter to, The Muskegon Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/1jI2ez1 ) Wednesday.

A vintage sealing material on the back gives the appearance that the letter never has been opened, postal officials told the newspaper.

“We’re not going to disturb it until we can see if we can find the family first,” said Veronica Mauseth, a secretary to Muskegon Postmaster William Rowe.

Sgt. Myron C. Cook’s name was listed as the sender. Somehow the letter made its way Minnesota, where it was placed back in the mail, Rowe said.

A 2013 postmark from Minneapolis was stamped over the original 1945 postmark. “We think somebody put it back into the mail stream,” he said.

A mail carrier, who also served in the Persian Gulf War, later saw the letter and its old postmark and saved it from the ordinary “dead mail” pile, Rowe added.

The home on Washington is empty and officials have reached out to historian Richard Mullally.

Mullally has documented Muskegon County World War II veterans and has a photo of Edward Lee Sensabaugh, a Navy veteran from the same time period as the letter.

Mullally plans to do research on Cook and Sensabaugh in hopes of finding relatives.

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Anyone with information about the letter, can contact Muskegon Postmaster William Rowe at william.j.rowe@usps.gov.

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